News Watch

June 2015 issue | Appears on page 16

Deadly quake in Nepal

An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Nepal on April 25, killing more than 7,000 people in Nepal, India, Tibet and Bangladesh, injuring 10,000 and displacing, possibly, millions. These numbers are expected to rise as emergency workers report from remote towns. Road damage caused many regions to be inaccessible except by helicopter, hampering rescue efforts.

With its epicenter in the Gorkha district — specifically, at a spot between Pokhara, in central Nepal, and...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 16

African migrants crisis

In the Mediterranean’s largest recorded loss of life from a migrant ship incident, at least 800 people died on a ship holding African migrants heading from Libya to Europe on April 19 when it capsized after crashing into a merchant ship attempting to assist it. The captain of the migrant ship has been charged in Italy with manslaughter. 

On April 24, 14 migrants, part of a group of more than 50 traveling on foot through Turkey and Greece from Somalia and Afghanistan, were struck by a...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 16

Syria’s civil war

Islamist groups, including the al-Qaeda-allied al-Nusra Front, captured the northern Syrian town of Jisr ash-Shughur on April 25. This was the largest town still held by government forces in the Idlib Governorate, on the border with Turkey. 

The UN estimates that since the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011, more than 200,000 people have been killed and nine million displaced.

The US Department of State warns that no part of Syria should be considered safe from...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 16

Iraq battles IS

A series of bombs in Baghdad killed at least 29 people on April 17. The bombs targeted public areas, including two outdoor markets, a car dealership and a café. As of press time, no group has claimed responsibility for the bombs, but the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) is suspected.

Since a US-led program of air strikes began against IS locations in Iraq in August 2014, IS is estimated to have lost around 25% of the territory it controlled in Iraq, amounting to over 5,000 square...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 16

Ukraine instability

Despite agreeing to a truce on Feb. 12, Ukrainian and rebel forces continued clashing in April. Both sides claim to have followed the cease-fire agreement, including moving heavy weapons and missiles away from a line of demarcation, and each has accused the other of breaking the truce.

On April 13, six Ukrainian soldiers and one rebel soldier were killed in eastern Ukraine. Rebels have also attacked Ukrainian positions near Luhansk, and shelling continues in Donetsk and near Mariupol...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 17

South Africa unrest

At least seven people were killed in anti-immigrant attacks in South Africa in mid-April. The attacks occurred mostly in the cities of Durban and Johannesburg after Goodwill Zwelithini, king of South Africa’s Zulu nation, reportedly compared immigrants to head lice and said they should go back to their countries. King Zwelithini later called for peace and said that his comments had been taken out of context.

More than 300 people were arrested, including three men who stabbed a...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 17

Protests in Burundi

Violent antigovernment protests swept Burundi after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced, on April 25, that he planned to run for a third term in June elections. At least 12 people were killed.

Nkurunziza and his supporters say he can legally run for a third term, something that Burundi’s constitution rejects, because he was appointed by parliament for his first term, not elected. Burundi’s Senate has asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the matter. 

Most of the violence...

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June 2015 issue | Appears on page 17

Bogotá bombing

In Bogotá, Colombia, a remotely activated bomb set off in the neighborhood of Quiroga on March 12 injured seven people, including five police officers. The bomb was detonated during a police procession.

This was the seventh bombing in Bogotá in 2015. The previous six bomb blasts injured five people, including a 6-month-old baby, but there have been no deaths.